US working class: restructuring, retreat, reactionThe rise of the extreme right to power in the US ? the control of Congress and the Executive by civilian militarists, Zionists and neo-liberals has met virtually no resistance from the working class or from the ?trade union? elite. …the historical tendencies within the US political economy favor the expansion of the conservative sectors of the working class. First the percentage of unionized workers has declined from 35% to 12% in the past 35 years (among private sector workers only 9% is unionized!)...The Role of Trade Unions in the Right-Turn of the Working ClassThe trade unions have played a major role in the weakening of working class solidarity by (1) making little or no effort to organize the mass of low-paid service workers; (2) by failing to challenge the new industrial capitalists in the South; (3) by supporting the pro-business Democratic Party; (4) by intervening against militant local unions and expelling local leaders and agreeing to end strikes on favorable terms for the bosses; (5) by forcing workers to accept contracts that reduce salaries, increase the power of the bosses to fire workers, intensify exploitation, and increase workers payments into pensions and health plans;…The internal structure of the ?trade union? is similar to a corporation. The top officials pay themselves between $300,000 to $500,000 dollars a year salary plus expenses. Their ?staff? of advisers average $100,000 a year. The apparatus resembles a ?feudal? structure rather than a ?bureaucracy?: functionaries are appointed for their unquestioned loyalty to the officials above them. In many cases family members are appointed to high paying posts. Most top officials receive two or even more pensions when they retire: they collect pensions from their national, regional and local union funds.…